Hoping for some advice from the car dealers and legal guys on here.

I've been in the market for a new tow car recently and found a lovely looking A4 for sale in a local(ish) used car dealer. From the description it sounded great and so phoned the dealer and he said the car was lovely; good bodywork, mechanically perfect etc. It sounded great and was priced well. I've missed out on a couple of A4s over the last few weeks and so to make sure I got this one he said he could take a £500 deposit over the phone which, if the car was not as described, then would be refundable. This was all done on Friday afternoon. I've never left deposits like this on a car before and I feel a bit stupid for doing it this time now!

Fast forward to Saturday morning and I went to pick the car up. But when I got there it was an absolute dog of a car - every panel was damaged (only about 10% of the actual damage was visible in the pics) and then when I drove it the tracking was miles out and the front wheel bearing was rumbling away. Clearly, not what I had expected.

After some discussion with the dealer he conceded that some of the damage was not visible in the pictures and so he would get the bumpers sprayed and front wing repaired. I wasn't interested - I don't want a repaired car.

So I told him I did not want the car and I would be walking away. However, he refused to refund the deposit saying that the car is as described (Correct Make, Model, Year). Apparently I was unreasonable in my expectations of the car and he had taken it off sale and so I had agreed to buy it. I paid on credit card so rather than going mental in the office I thought it best to walk away and let barclaycard deal with it.

My question is, where do I stand legally? I have no contract or terms and conditions for the deposit payment (I don't even have a receipt!). I'm sure the ccard co. will deal with it no problem on Monday morning but useful to here opinions/experiences of others.

Have a look at Distance Selling Regulations.

The only reason for paying the deposit was that he stated it would be refundable if the car did not meet the description. When I went to pick the car up he changed his mind and said that as long as the car was the same make/model/mileage then I was not able to get the money back.

£500 wasn't huge compared to the car price - it's a pretty new A4 so £20ks worth. If it was as good as described it would have been fine. My issue is that it wasn't and apparently that's my fault for having too high standards - apparently expecting the car to drive straight is expecting too much!

I just need to know some facts regarding the law to confirm how best to play this.

MX7 - Thanks, just read through there guidelines for car dealers - this guy did not follow any of there guidelines.

as a car dealer and im loath to admit this he will have to refund you, he's trying it on

similar situaton as I found myself in a few years ago, just taked them to small claims court.. they will then also end up paying the small claims court costs.

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section7...

Your credit card provider is jointly and severally liable.

yup you will be under a tri party agreement with your lender

Under DSR, even if you had turned up and simply disliked the colour, or simply changed your mind as your cat had died, then they have to offer you a refund in full, no questions, no excuses, its the law and they have to stick to it.Some traders will moan that its not fair, maybe, maybe not, but if they don't like it then they shouldn't advertise on the Internet and take deposits over the phone, can't have it both ways.
It was actually a BMW dealer who explained the law to me a few years ago when I bought my first car at distance, so there not all bad.

I don't DSR rules apply now as you've visited the dealership.

Although if I was the dealer I'd refund you. Morally the dealer should refund you but I not think he's legally obliged to.

This.

I would never give away money without actually getting something in return.